Toongerines

In recent times, Brazil won yet another international tournament, the Confederations Cup in their now famous yellow jersey which is symbolic of their brand in Samba football and success at every level. Donned by the legendary Peles, Zicos, Romarios, Ronaldos and Ronaldinhos, Brazil gave life to their yellow jersey.

Quite contrasting though is the recent away kit decided by Newcastle United a.k.a the Toon Army. Not satisfied with a "distinct" home kit that resembles that of jailbirds' uniforms from historical times, it got itself a wuss of an away kit which quite frankly reeks of bad fashion taste.

With the demise of their Permiership status, Newcastle's management somehow got itself into deeper embarassment by introducing a granny-inspired yellow kit that equates to their recent brand of football... toothless and dull. Nick names that had already come to mind of observers include "bananas and ice-cream", "deckchair" and "all-day-breakfast". To me, the best one coughed up to date must be "Toongerines".

I wonder who is the mastermind behind the design. Perhaps he is a keen supporter of Sunderland F.C. whose evil desire is to heap more salt into the heavy blows sustained by the Geordie club.. ... " Now what can we add on to relegation to the Coca Cola Division, the impending sale of the club again, an unstable management team and the loss of Michael Owen.... oh I know... how about a really horrible looking away kit?? hehehehe... HAHAHAHAAA!!"

The poor Newcastle fans must be wondering if their beloved Toon Army is really turning into a cartoon nightmare.

Newcastle to be sold to Singapore based company???

The people behind bringing Liverpool to Singapore this Summer might soon be owning Newcastle United Football Club. "Profitable Group" is a Singapore based investment company with two Liverpool greats in their executive team, Kenny Dalglish and Stephen McMahon. If these people do get Newcastle United F.C., I sure hope they are in this for the long run and hopefully do a better job than Mike Ashley. Well, we may all have our doubts about this, but it sure will be cool to have something Singaporean own a piece of something in Newcastle.

"Where do we go from here?"

In what was probably the worst season for Newcastle fans in near memory, the fans are still enduring a big hangover from relegation with their club being put up for sale. Surely they must be asking "Where do we go from here now?"

No doubt that Newcastle has lost abit of its attractiveness after being relegated to the Coca Cola Division for 2009/2010, now it is being marketed as an entity for sale. Whats going to happen to Newcastle? Are they going to be the next Leeds United who has been mismananged, resulting in the sad demise of a club which used to fight for Champions League honors.

In times of uncertainty, the fan and owner that is Mike Ashley always decides that he has enough and is ready to sell the club. This is not his first try at making a quick exit from a presumably sinking ship. One has to question his timing again. While I think he has proved himself to be an ineffectual owner, this man has pretty much lost all respect at a club whose fans are proud believers in their team. With the relegation of Newcastle, I expected some fight in the man who claims to be a fan of Newcastle United. I expected the owner to show some grit and put his money where he says his loyalty lies, get his team some new players, put in place a new gaffer like Alan Shearer who breathes life into the team and assist the club in their bid to get back into the Premiership. At the end of the day, I guess he is still a man persuaded by investment gains and losses rather than club loyalty.

Not that it is a bad thing. Newcastle actually is better off without Mike Ashley. I hope for the sake of all Newcastle fans, that the club gets an owner who truly believes in the team like they do, who will own the club not based on investment purposes but shares the ambition of the Geordie faithful, who is a firm believer in making this club great again. A new owner, a new start, a new era for the Newcastle fans who so deserve it.

Relegation Battle's done. Season is Over.

The season has come to a close... alas Survival Sunday had no fairy tale ending... As if anything was a surprise for the four teams involved, all of them lost their games. None of the managers could be proud of their team's performance and frankly all four of them should head down to the Coca Cola Division. In the end, it was Newcastle and Middlesbrough that took the dreaded drop.

Newcastle United must be one of the most clueless teams when it comes to executing tactics this season, even till the last game of the season; their players ran around like headless chickens. A team that boasts the attacking talent of Owen, Martins, Duff and Viduka were full of running but most of it was aimless since they had no creative playmaker who could pick those runs. They could have done a whole lot better with a Ginola or an Emre but I don't think even that could have given them anything at Villa Park. Even Lady Luck wasn't on their side with that deflected own goal from Duff. Well, owner Mike Ashley (pictured) just witnessed the demise of his beloved club. Goes to show a big fan doesn't equate to a sensible owner.

Hull City can celebrate all they want now for the rest of pre-season but the reality of how much needs to be done must surely sink in at the end of the delirium...... simply because their first team just lost to a team of 17 and 18 year olds from a Man Utd second team. Not really a good sign in my opinion. If anything, the manger Phil Brown's face says it all at the end of the game, it looked somewhat like embarassment.

Boro should have seen it coming for the last two seasons. None of their first team players could have made the bench of any Top Four Premier League clubs. Gareth Southgate's youth policy just didn't work out. He really should have broke the bank for at least one decent striker because his team just doesn't know how to score goals.

So its goodbye to the Barclays Premier League season of 2008/09. We look forward to the next season as teams rebuild and re-challenge the status quo. Till then.

The Final Matchday of the Season

The final run-up to the season promises to be a cracker! Who will be relegated with West Brom to the First Division? Its anybody's guess.

Will it be the struggling Hull City who was never thought to be a contender for the demands of the BPL? Will it be Middlesbrough who had been in this situation before for the past few years but somehow found a way to survive? How about Sunderland, whom I thought will not be in this situation with a team like theirs but is somehow caught in a desperate bid to survive? Or will it be the underachieving Toon Army, once the mighty giants of the BPL from Geordie Land?

What is your pick? My picks are Middlesbrough and Hull City. Sunderland will only go down if both Hull and Newcastle win and they lose to Chelsea at home. Chances are one of those two will draw/lose. Well, I fully expect Newcastle to give the thin and fatigued squad of Aston Villa a street fight and probably steal a narrow win at Villa Park. I really don't think Hull will get an easy game with a second string Man Utd, even at home. Expect the very-eager-to-impress second team of Tevez, Macheda or Welbeck play a full counter attacking game at the Tigers' home. The truth is such games are usually in full attacking flow and unexpected things happen. Hull might probably get a scored draw at home. Middlesbrough will need some miracle to expect Hull and Newcastle to both lose their games and win theirs at West Ham in front of the Hammers' home fans. I think its too late for them this time round. Time to rebuild from a lower division.

So we shall see.

Alas, the Toon Army wins

The above says it all doesn't it. The Toon Army once fought for UEFA qualification in the heydays of the 90s, Kevin Keegan had even led them to challenge for the BPL title with the likes of Man Utd. How drastic the drop has been in the past few seasons... the Toon Army is fighting relegation, no thanks to the departure of influential Keegan and the entrance of a clueless fan and owner Mike Ashley.

I like The "carToon" Army. They entertain, quite literally. Some "cartoonic" players don the black and white of Newcastle and remain as "legends" of the BPL today. Who can forget the fumbling defensive duo, "Own goal king" Titus Bramble and "Two left feet" Alain Boumsong? St James Park gave us some forgettable names and big flops like "Overrated" Albert Luque and the "Way past his prime" Patrick Kluivert. Oh yes, how about the current "I have an anger management problem" Joey Barton... ...

But good news for Toon fans, the Geordie Messiah and cult hero Alan Shearer led his team to the first victory in his managerial tenure so far. I don't regard Shearer as much of a manger yet, even though he had been Captain Fantastic when he was with the Magpies as a player. But I like him. He was the typical English striker who takes no nonsense in his play and I pretty much expect him to be the same with his management style. Congratulations to Newcastle United on their first win in many games now... the relegation danger is certainly not over but a win is always nice for the team morale.

Don't get me wrong, I will hate to see the Magpies go down. Afterall, who will entertain us like they do?